Saving Seafood

Maine’s congressional delegation unites against drilling off New England coast

January 12, 2018 — U.S. Reps. Bruce Poliquin and Chellie Pingree of Maine are among the co-sponsors of a bill that would prohibit gas drilling off the coast of New England.

Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King on Thursday signed on to a similar measure introduced in the Senate.

The House bill, which is also supported by representatives from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut, comes in response to a plan announced by President Donald Trump’s administration last week to expand drilling in U.S. coastal waters.

“I am opposed to oil drilling off the coast of our state of Maine,” said Poliquin in a written statement. “So much of our state’s economy and tens of thousands of Maine jobs along our coast depend on our marine and tourism industries. I am committed to protecting Maine’s unique natural resources.”

Pingree has also vowed to fight the president’s policy.

“President Trump’s offshore drilling plan is unprecedented and will face major opposition from Mainers,” Pingree said in a statement last week.

The House bill was introduced Thursday with Rep. David N. Cicilline, R-Rhode Island, as the lead sponsor. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King have also announced their opposition to Trump’s plan and wrote a letter to that effect to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke earlier this week.

“With our environment so closely tied to the vitality of Maine’s economy, we cannot risk the health of our ocean on a shortsighted proposal that could impact Maine people for generations,” Collins and King said in a joint statement.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

Maine senators: Trump’s drilling plan threatens lobsters

January 9, 2018 — Both of Maine’s senators are warning that the Trump administration’s plan to open offshore drilling along the coast of their state threatens the state’s huge lobster industry.

“We oppose any effort to open waters off the coast of Maine or any proximate area to offshore drilling, which could negatively affect the health of Maine’s fisheries and other coastal resources, threatening to harm not only the environment but the state’s economy as well,” wrote Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Independent Sen. Angus King wrote to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Monday. “Maine’s economic stability — and countless Mainers’ livelihoods — has always depended on the health of the ocean.”

The lawmakers wrote that lobster alone is a $1.7 billion annual industry for the state.

“These critical industries are dependent on Maine’s pristine waters, and even a minor spill could damage irreparably the ecosystem in the Gulf of Maine, including the lobster larvae and adult lobster populations therein,” the lawmakers wrote.

Read the full story at the Washington Examiner

 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Keep Carlos Rafael Permits in New Bedford

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — October 5, 2017 — In a letter obtained by Saving Seafood this week, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren urged NOAA “to do everything possible to ensure that [fishing permits belonging to Carlos Rafael] stay in the Port of New Bedford.”

Writing to Chris Oliver, NOAA’s Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, Senator Warren wrote “those permits cover a substantial proportion of several important fishing allocations in the area, including of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, Georges Bank cod, Georges Bank winter flounder, Georges Bank haddock, and southern New England Winter Flounder. Mr. Rafael’s business accounts directly for three quarters of the value of New Bedford’ s groundfish, which are necessary to diversify the Port’s fishing industry…”

“Removing Mr. Rafael’s permits from New Bedford would do needless, immense damage not only to hundreds of responsible, law-abiding New Bedford fishermen, but also to the economy of New Bedford at large. That is why New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell and the New Bedford City Council, as well as the Greater Southeastern Massachusetts Labor Council, have urged federal officials to, if possible, reissue Mr. Rafael’s permits in a manner that retains these important jobs in the community.”

Read the letter here

Several other elected officials in New England have also written letters regarding the future of Mr. Rafael’s permits. Some of those letters are included below.

Read the letter from Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker to NOAA

Read the letter from New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell to NOAA

Read the letter from R.I. Gov. Gina Raimondo to Judge William Young

Read the letter from members of Maine’s Congressional delegation to the Commerce Department

New England senators say Congress should save Sea Grant program

September 18, 2017 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s U.S. senators are signing on to a request to keep the National Sea Grant College Program funded at least at its current level.

President Donald Trump has proposed to eliminate the program, which funds science that’s beneficial to commercial fisheries, conservation and coastal businesses. It has existed for about a half century.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at NH1

 

UMaine to Receive More Than $220K From NOAA to Study Tuna

August 11, 2017 — ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine is slated to receive more than $220,000 from the federal government to support research of Atlantic bluefin tuna.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins and independent Sen. Angus King say the money from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will help with UMaine’s research about the tuna’s age, growth and population in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.

UMaine researchers will work with dealers, fishermen and other stakeholders from Maine to North Carolina on the work.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the U.S. News & World Report

Head of Maine Aquaculture Association named to federal marine panel

July 14, 2017 — The head of the Maine Aquaculture Association has been named to a federal marine advisory panel.

Sebastian Belle, executive director of the aquaculture trade association, has been appointed to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee. As a member of the advisory committee, Belle will advise the Secretary of Commerce and NOAA on issues related to living marine resources that fall under the purview of the Department of Commerce, according to a joint release from U.S. Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins announcing the apointment.

“Sebastian has established himself as a national leader in the aquaculture industry, and his expertise will help guide the Department of Commerce and NOAA as they shape important policy relating to our marine resources,” said the senators in the statement. “Sebastian brings with him a deep understanding of Maine’s diverse marine ecosystem that supports our state’s coastal communities, creates and sustains jobs, and helps drive the economy.”

Belle was formerly a lobsterman and state aquaculture coodinator. He helped found TAAG, which specializes in aquaculture investment and consulting, and is also the president of Econ-Aqua, a consultancy that focuses on farm management, financial due diligence, and risk and analysis control.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

MASSACHUSETTS: Mitchell sends NOAA letter requesting Rafael permits stay in New Bedford

June 21, 2017 — Mayor Jon Mitchell penned a letter to NOAA regarding Carlos Rafael’s permits, a day after Maine’s congressional delegation signed a letter regarding the permits.

In an argument consisting of four pages, Mitchell provided legal precedent for the Department of Justice and NOAA to punish Rafael, while also keeping the 13 fishing permits in question in New Bedford. He likens Rafael’s case to those cases involving wrongdoing by the head of a large business. He states, “It is common for the government to tailor punishment so as to avoid harm to others who were not involved.”

Rafael’s business employ 285 fishermen.

Mitchell suggested Rafael sell his entire business to other New Bedford companies, forfeiting the proceeds to the government. It would entirely exclude Rafael from fishing despite possessing more permits than the 13 in question.

“If the Service affords him a reasonable opportunity to fully divest himself in such fashion,” Mitchel wrote. “The government can accomplish its enforcement goals and avoid harm to employees and other businesses.”

On Monday, U.S. Senators Angus King and Susan Collins, along with members of Congress Chellie Pingree and Bruce Poliquin, drafted a letter to U.S. Secretary Wilbur Ross stating the permits should be redistributed among “all eligible permit holders in the fleet.” The Congressional delegation cited the Magnuson-Stevens Act to justify its belief.

Politicians and organizations have jockeyed for leverage regarding the final destination of the permits almost immediately after Rafael pleaded guilty to 28 counts including falsifying fishing quotas, false labeling, conspiracy and tax evasion at the end of March.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Maine congressional delegation asks forfeited groundfish permits be redistributed through Northeast

June 19, 2017 — Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Bruce Poliquin sent a letter Monday to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross asking that the 13 groundfish permits forfeited by Carlos Rafael — a New Bedford fisherman who has pleaded guilty to 28 federal counts of tax evasion, falsifying fishing quotas and conspiracy — be redistributed to fishermen throughout the Northeast, not only New Bedford.

In their letter, the Maine congressional delegation said that groundfish permits embody a shared resource and, as such, should be returned to groundfish fishermen in “a fair and uniform manner.”

“Mr. Rafael’s grave and extensive disregard for both the law and sustainable fishing practices is a setback to the recovery of the beleaguered Northeast multispecies (groundfish) fishery, and has done, and will continue to do, financial harm to fishermen from Maine to New York,” the delegation wrote.

“These fishermen, who have complied with federal quotas and regulations, were forced to compete with this illegal activity and now must endure its repercussions on future stock assessments,” they wrote. “For these reasons, we believe the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) should cancel each of the groundfish permits that Mr. Rafael currently holds and reallocate the fishing privileges associated with such permits to all eligible permit holders in the fleet.

“We are specifically troubled that the City of New Bedford (where Mr. Rafael’s enterprise is based) is seeking to acquire control of his permits. We believe, instead, that all members of the fleet, including those in New Bedford, who have been disadvantaged by Mr. Rafael’s illegal activity, deserve a share of the rights to access these permits once remanded back to NMFS,” the delegation wrote.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

Maine senators say Congress should save Sea Grant program

June 8, 2017 — Maine’s U.S. senators are signing on to a request to keep the National Sea Grant College Program funded at least at its current level.

President Trump has proposed to eliminate the program, which funds science that’s beneficial to commercial fisheries, conservation and coastal businesses. It has existed for about a half-century.

Maine Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an independent, are joining an effort led by Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy to save the program. The group is sending a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the commerce appropriations subcommittee to stress the importance of Sea Grant.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

Sen. King tells researchers that data is the key to protecting lobster industry

June 6, 2017 — Calling proposed cuts in federal science funding “unacceptable,” U.S. Sen. Angus King told lobster researchers Monday that data is the key to protecting Maine’s most valuable fishery.

Maine’s independent senator asked the 250 biologists, oceanographers and fishery managers at a global conference on lobster biology in Portland this week to give him data on the impact of the changing sea environment on lobster, including temperature, salinity and acidification, and whether that is prompting a migration of Maine’s $533.1 million a year fishery to Canada.

“If lobsters are moving toward Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, that’s a serious practical issue that will get the attention of politicians,” he said. “It’s when you start seeing jobs go away that politicians start saying ‘Gee, we’d better do something about this.’ Are they moving, if they are why, and if they are, what’s the timing? Is it five years? Twenty years? A hundred years?”

But federal funding for scientific research is under fire. President Trump’s budget calls for a 17 percent cut to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the national fisheries programs and funded almost a fifth of Maine Department of Marine Resources’ annual budget. It would eliminate the Sea Grant program, which funds research by the University of Maine’s Rick Wahle, conference co-chairman, among others.

“The lobster industry in New England is valued at close to $500 million and yet we know very little about how ocean acidification may affect this species,” Libby Jewett, NOAA’s ocean acidification director, said last fall when awarding Wahle’s team a $200,000 grant for lobster research. “These projects should help move the needle forward in our understanding and, as a result, enable broader resilience in the region.”

King said it is unlikely that Trump’s budget, containing what he considers drastic cuts in scientific funding, will pass Congress.

“The last thing we should be doing on a federal level is cutting research funding,” King said. “That is one of the most important functions of the federal government, whether it is climate change or cancer. It’s how we solve problems. To cut research, and particularly to cut research when you get the feeling that the motivation is that we don’t want to know, is unacceptable. … Congress understands this.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald